Brood parasitic birds lay their eggs in the nests of others, sparing themselves the expense of rearing their own young. The resulting coevolutionary arms race includes sophisticated defenses by hosts ...

Several animal species display brood care, a phenomenon where ‘caring’ parents provide their offspring with food and protection against predators. However, there are many others that prefer not to do ...

One of the most interesting topics discussed in my Ornithology class was about the “con artists” found in nature… Brood parasitism occurs when a female bird (the parasite) lays her eggs in the nest of ...

Several animal species display brood care, a phenomenon where 'caring' parents provide their offspring with food and protection against predators. However, there are many others that prefer not to do ...

Some 100 species of birds are what scientists call “obligate brood parasites”–instead of building nests and raising their own young, they lay their eggs in the nests of other species and let those ...

It was nature’s version of an Easter egg hunt. Dr. Claire Spottiswoode, a professor at the University of Cape Town who studies avian (bird) brood parasites, was working in Zambia to learn more about ...

Eye size likely plays a role in the contest between avian brood parasites -- birds that lay their eggs in the nests of other species -- and their hosts, who sometimes detect the foreign eggs and eject ...

Rachael has a degree in Zoology from the University of Southampton, and specializes in animal behavior, evolution, palaeontology, and the environment. Rachael has a degree in Zoology from the ...

New research finds that brood parasites living in more variable and unpredictable habitats tend to parasitize -- or squat and drop their eggs in -- the nests of a greater variety and number of hosts.

I don’t have kids, but I imagine that being forced to unknowingly raise someone else’s children — either in addition to your own or after yours have been murdered — would be at the top of every parent ...